Farm Bureaus rally residents against EPA regulation

MARTINSBURG – It was practically a unanimous consensus of those attending a meeting of the Farm Bureaus of Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties Monday evening that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has overstepped its authority with a new definition of Waters of the United States.

“There’s no common sense and it’s unfair – we need to ditch the EPA,” retired Berkeley County dairy farmer Jimmy Jones said.

“Ditch the Rule” is the theme of the American Farm Bureau’s, West Virginia Farm Bureau’s and local farm bureaus’ fight against the new EPA rule.

The new definition, which the U.S. Corps of Engineers helped to write, would classify nearly every flowing, standing and ponding body of water as a Water of the United States, or WOTUS, according to Stephen Butler, administrator of the West Virginia Farm Bureau. The new definition would add farm ponds, residential stormwater runoff ditches, wet-weather ephemeral streams, rainwater standing in fields and other bodies of water to the WOTUS list, he said.

“Tributaries, anything with flow, would be included with no consideration for frequency, duration or continuity,” Butler said. “Adjacent waters to flood plains, but it doesn’t say if it’s the 200-year flood plain or the 500-year flood plain. And other waters, which means anywhere waters are connected.”

The West Virginia Farm Bureau is conducting rallies across the state to urge people to comment on the rules; to write their congressional representatives, opposing the new definition; to write letters to the editor of the local newspaper; and to talk to friends, neighbors and community groups to join the fight.

More than 100 people attended the gathering at the Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds to hear the presentation, ask questions and make comments. The issue elicited emotional responses from several members of the audience.

“We’re all concerned about runoff from our fields,” Greg Butler, co-owner of Butler Farm Market, said after the meeting. “We were named conservation farmers of the year, but this makes it so hard to farm. There’s no common sense. These are ridiculous regulations.”

He said as much as 50 percent of his family-farm’s 400 acres could be affected by the new definition.

“It makes me concerned about the future of farming,” Butler said. “You look at the people here and probably more than 85 percent are over 50 years old. If it’s too hard to farm, they won’t do it and the young people won’t get into farming.”

He definitely plans to follow through on the Farm Bureau’s action plan of writing letters and commenting on the proposed rule, he said.

A point that Stephen Butler emphasized was that the new definition would impact not only farmers, but developers and manufacturing businesses as well.

“Someone needs to take hold of the (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection) and the EPA,” Andy DiMagno, of P.C. DiMagno Engineers and Surveyors in Martinsburg, said after the meeting. “They do what they want. I’m glad the Farm Bureau is on top of it.”

He is not a farmer, but he designs stormwater management facilities for commercial developments. Ironically, the new definition could increase his business.

“I should probably be rooting for it, but this is definitely overstepping their bounds,” he said.

The comment period on the new definition is open until Oct. 20.

For more information about how to submit a comment and for more information on the WOTUS definition, go to the Berkeley County Farm Bureau website at berkeleycountyfarmbureau.org or the West Virginia Farm Bureau website at www.wvfarm.org.